It is a common practice to provide physical bumpers on piers, posts, docks, and other cylindrical surfaces where boats are positioned. Such bumpers provide protection for the watercraft against damage when they bump up against such objects. Unfortunately, over time, such bumpers deteriorate or become completely missing, leaving only the bare wood or steel present to contact the boat. In such instances the hard surface of the boat will hit it directly against the hard surface of the pier or dock, resulting in likely damage to the boat that is expensive to fix. Accordingly, there exists a need for means by which portable boat bumper surfaces can be provided, so as to afford protection against boat damage as described above. The development of the present invention fulfills this need.
The invention has a large center section with a plurality of securement straps. In an alternative embodiment, the outer ends of the straps are also provided with a weighting material such as sand to allow the straps to be thrown around the pier piling. The center surface, which actually contacts the watercraft, is provided with extra padding and protection. With the invention in place, watercraft such as small boats, personal water craft, jet skis, and the like, simply bounce off the invention without causing damage to the dock or the watercraft.
Prior art in this field consists of padding and protectors that secure to a side of a boat's hull. Other protector or are hung from a boat by a tethered rope. These provide some protection only is the position of the padding is in line with the piling. Securing the padding to the pilling is a better method to ensure that anything coming into contact with the piling abuts the padding. Piling bumpers do exist but these are permanently secured and are not transportable. The permanent securement aspect posed a disadvantage because often times these bumpers deteriorate. Furthermore, some pilings are not equipped with bumpers at all. A boat owner wants to have accessible a bumper or protector at all times when docking or mooring. It is an object of this invention to provide a means to easily and effectively add a protective bumper to a piling when docking or mooring a boat. It is a further objective of this invention to provide a means to easily transport the bumper device and attach/detach the device to virtually any piling at a user's discretion. It is a further objective of this invention to provide a means to personalize the device so that a user may express his interests while the device is in use.